Growing Pains
by Iheartpiper
Summary: Arizona and Callie are trying to move their relationship forward, but they have to deal with much more than just their relationship. Takes place the morning after Mark sleeps in their bed.Cannon A/C M/L C/O M/D maybe .Rating may change in future chapters
1. The proof is in the Pancake

**Growing Pains**

Callie woke up and realized that she was on Arizona's side of the bed, and Arizona wasn't there. She looked over to her side and saw Mark, still fast asleep. It took her a few seconds to remember the events of the night before, but she still could have sworn that she had fallen asleep next to Arizona. Callie got up quickly and quietly and went out to the front room. There, she saw a peaceful looking Arizona fast asleep on the couch. Oh crap. Callie moved over to the couch to wake Arizona, who doesn't have to work this morning, but she never slept passed eight anyways.

"Good morning baby" Callie said as she woke Arizona with a soft kiss. Arizona woke immediately, took in her surroundings and began glaring at Callie.

"I don't like sleeping on the couch Calliope."

"In my defense, you weren't on the couch when I fell asleep."

"Yea, because you weren't kicking me while you were awake!"

"I know that you didn't like that Mark was staying over, but he needed me. He's my person, Arizona."

"I understand that, but why couldn't he need you from the couch?" Arizona began to pout. "You can't just go inviting people into our bed Calliope! For one, it really isn't big enough for three and—"

"Our bed?" Callie raised an eyebrow, seeing her opportunity to both stop getting chastised and bring up a subject that she had been trying to work in for weeks now.

"Unless you're sharing a bed with someone else, Calliope, yes, our bed."

"Arizona, will you move in?"

"Huh?" Arizona was too tired to have fallowed the jump that this conversation had taken.

"Will you move in with me?" Callie repeated with a little more confidence.

"What does that have to do with…" Arizona was still catching up.

"It's our bed, Arizona. Our shower. Our closet. Our kitchen. Please move in."

"Technically, the kitchen's Christina's too, not that she can cook…"

"you're evading"

"I'm processing"

"evading"

"shut up. I just woke up from sleeping on the couch because Mark is your person and you kick in your sleep, so I deserve a little bit of processing time."

"Fine. I'll make you some pancakes. Pancakes that you'd get every morning if you moved in…"

"Are you sure?" Arizona asked a few minutes later while Callie was cooking away at the stove.

"Of course I'm sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"Did you talk to Christina about it?"

"Yes, she didn't care much since you spend so much time here anyway. What are you thinking?"

"So you've thought about this?"

"Yea, I've been looking for the right moment to bring it up for weeks." Callie couldn't take her questions being ignored anymore. She flipped the pancakes on the griddle and walked back over to Arizona.

"Ari, what's in your head?"

"I haven't met your mother." Arizona responds after a pause.

"What?" Of all the answers Callie had come up with in her head, this was certainly not one of them.

"I've never met your mother. I haven't really met your family."

"Wait, so you want to meet my family before we move in together?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Moving in is a big step. I know what step comes after the moving in step. I want to meet your mother before that step."

"Arizona Robbins, are you saying you want to—"

"Don't jinx it!" Arizona said loudly and flashed her dimples at Callie.

"Well, then I supposed we better go to the chief to get a couple days off soon."

"Soon?"

"I'd rather not put this off." Callie says as she wiggles her eyebrows.

Mark enters the room looking disheveled.

"Do I smell pancakes?" Mark says groggily.

"Yea, we've got blueberry, chocolate chip, banana, plain, and squash."

"Squash pancakes?" Mark asks giving Callie a funny look.

"I was preoccupied" Callie answered shortly.

"What the hell are you doing with squash in February anyway?"

"I'm pretty sure we didn't buy it in February…" Callie said sheepishly as she tried to remember the last time she cleaned out the fridge. Then taking the plate of squash pancakes and throwing them away.

"I'll go with the banana" Callie sends him a stack of banana pancakes and hands Arizona the blueberry ones, because she doesn't even need to ask.

A groggy Christina appears from her bedroom and without a word claims the plate of chocolate chip pancakes, sits down and puts a thick coating of maple syrup on them.

Callie then takes the large stack of plain pancakes and separates them on to two plates, just as Owen walks in the door from his morning run.

"Mmm…pancakes" He grabs his plate and eats them dry.

They sit and eat their pancakes while discussing surgery and other mundane things. Only Owen is completely awake, but he doesn't talk much in the first place.

Suddenly the group is interrupted by frantic knocking on the door. Callie gets up to open it and a disheveled and angry looking Little Grey storms into the room with daggered eyes looking at Mark.

"You don't get to do this! You don't get to ignore me; you don't get to blame this all on me. Yes, I slept with Alex because I was upset and drunk, very, very drunk. You slept with Addison! Addison, your ex-girlfriend. It meant more than sex! And you slept with her more than once. What, do you get to sleep around just because you used to be the biggest man whore in the state!?!"

"Yes" Is all Mark answers.

"What the hell does 'yes' mean?"

"Yes, I get to sleep around when you don't because you're Lexie. You're sweet and kind and you can still count the number of people you've slept with. It's not like you."

"What? So I don't make mistakes? Mark, I make mistakes. All the time. It happens. I'm human. I need you to understand that I can't be a grandmother at 24 and I don't think that Sloan wants to be a mother."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Sloan didn't come here for a father, she came here for a place to crash and some money. It was never meant to be long term to her. Maybe you should ask her what she wants before you start planning her life and my life by yourself?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask…" Mark said sheepishly. Callie goes to the stove to pour a couple more pancakes with cinnamon batter for Lexie and put them down at her seat.

------------------------------------------------**That Afternoon**-------------------------------------------------

"Hey, so are you going to talk to the chief about getting a few days off to visit your family today?"

"Yea, I'll ask him in between my two surgeries. I'll see you here when you get off?"

"Sure! I'll rent a movie and we can sleep in tomorrow since we're both off."

"Great, And Arizona…"

"What?"

"No Shrek."

"But—"

"Nothing that's a cartoon or has the Disney stamp on it"

"Calliope what kind of movie am I supposed to get, then?"

"A grown up movie. Horror, action, I'd even settle for a romantic comedy, just no Disney."

"Fine, but no on-call room sex for you."

"We'll see" Callie mutters as they walk out of the apartment towards the Hospital.

As soon as they got there, they went to check on their patients and Callie had her old man in need of a hip replacement prepped for surgery. Callie got it done pretty quickly and figured that it'd be a good time to talk to the chief.

"Hey chief. I was wondering if Dr. Robbins and I could get a couple days off in the next couple weeks?" Callie asked confident as ever.

"I'll try and see what I can do, but the hospitals been a bit of a mad house. What's it for anyway?"

"Arizona wants to meet my mother" Callie answered a little crisply.

"Ah, sounds like fun. I'll try to get you both a few days off in the middle of next week, Torres."

Callie went off to tell Arizona the good news, but ran in to Mark before she got to her.

"Hey Callie, where's the fire?" Mark was back to being in an obnoxiously good mood, not that Callie minded, but she didn't want to find herself telling Mark before she got to Arizona.

"Love to stay and chat, but I've got to find Arizona!" Callie said quickly as she continued her run to the pediatric wing.

"Hey, Arizona I—" Callie had began speaking as she rounded her head to the attendings lounge a nurse had pointed her towards to find Arizona talking to a woman Callie had never met.

"Hey Calliope. This is my sister-in-law Jamie and her daughter Charlie." Callie paused as she began to recognize the woman and the little girl she hadn't noticed at first from a picture Callie had seen at Arizona's apartment.

"Hi Jamie, it's nice to meet you. And you too Charlie." Callie says, trying to wipe the shock off her face and put a smile on for Arizona's niece. Arizona doesn't talk much in depth about the family her brother left behind; it's still too painful for her to think about what he's missing. Callie had heard a few stories from when Charlie was a baby and it was clear that Arizona adored her little niece.

"What's up?" Callie asked Arizona, putting a quizzical look on her face. Arizona hadn't mentioned that her family was coming to visit.

"Jamie and I are going to go get lunch. Could you do me a favor and take Charlie down to the daycare center?" Arizona asked her, but with a look in her eyes that said they would talk later.

"Um, sure. Hey Charlie, you want to come with me, so your mommy and aunty Arizona can talk?" Charlie took Callie's hand and Callie shot a quick smile at Jamie and Arizona before heading down to the daycare center.

"So Charlie, what's your favorite color?" Callie tried to get to know the kid, but there was no response. Charlie wouldn't say a word. Callie decided that she had some time before her next surgery and figured she could get some charting done with Charlie in the attendings lounge. Charlie seemed like a shy kid and Callie didn't want to leave her with a ton of shouting kids for too long. Callie couldn't help but be curious too. It was hard to think that this quiet little thing was related to Arizona. Well, except for the blonde hair and dimples. Callie scrounged up some paper and crayons and gave them to Charlie so that she wouldn't be bored.

"Did you know my daddy?" Charlie suddenly asks.

"No, I didn't, but I've heard a lot about him." The funny thing about Arizona was that the hardest thing about her brother's death wasn't remembering him at all; it was seeing all the things he's missing.

Mark and Owen walked into the lounge right after that and Callie was hoping they wouldn't notice the little girl. No such luck.

"Who's the kid Torres?" Mark asks with a snicker on his face.

"She's Arizona's niece" Callie answered, but she was distracted by the look on Owen's face. Charlie looked up from her coloring and her face lit up as soon as she saw Owen.

"Uncle Oh-Oh!" She shouted enthusiastically. Owen's face adorned a look of pure shock.

"Charlie?" He said, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. This must mean that Scooter's sister was Arizona. He should have realized…


	2. Ghosts

Growing Pains

Charlie ran to Owen and wrapped her little arms around his legs. Owen hugged her back but still looked shocked, and scared. He couldn't believe he was seeing Robbins's little girl again. Finally, he found his voice again.

"Hey, lollipop, is your mommy with you?"

"Mommy's with Aunty Zona."

"I'm looking after her for a little bit. Arizona and Jamie went to Lunch. Owen, how do you know Charlie?" Callie asked the question, even though she thinks she might already know the answer.

"We served together." It's all he had to say. Callie knew that Arizona's brother had been one of the 19 other men in Owen's unit.

"Casey was my best friend. I used to call him Scooter because he always acted like a little kid, always joking around. He used to tell me about his little sister, but he never mentioned her name. I went to barbeques at his house. I babysat Charlie for him and Jamie. Then, when we went back and…" Owen trailed off. Like he said, he never talks about Iraq.

"I'm gonna call Arizona, why don't you catch up with Charlie?" Callie wasn't sure what to say, but she was sure that this week wasn't going to turn out how she'd planned. Owen just nodded his head at her and asked Charlie about the things he could manage to remember about before. Even though he had come a long way, he wasn't sure that he was quite ready for this. Callie stepped into the hall to dial Arizona.

"Hey babe, what's up?"

"Um, so I figured that since all I was planning to do until my surgery was chart so I thought that I could just keep an eye on Charlie, but she knows Owen. Um, are you guys gonna be done soon?" Callie was nervous.

"How could she know Owen?"

"I think you should hear that from him. So, will you be done soon, then?'

"Um, yea we were just finishing up. Just take a deep breath Calliope, would you?"

"Yea, course. We're at the third floor attending's lounge. See you soon. Bye."

"Bye"

Click. Arizona hung up.

A few minutes later Arizona and Jamie walked in to the lounge and Jamie stopped short as her eyes fell upon Owen talking to her little girl.

"Owen?" She hadn't seen Owen since before he and Casey had shipped out. He didn't even come to anyone's funerals. He was almost as much of a ghost as the rest of the unit.

"Jamie" Owen said her name like it was a foreign tongue.

"So, anyone want to fill me in?" Arizona smiled, but it was a weak and dimple less smile.

"Um yea, so Casey was in Owen's unit…" Callie said looking Arizona in the eye, searching for even the smallest flicker of emotion. Arizona was shocked.

"I thought everyone in his unit died…" Arizona responded. Owen had been so far gone by the time he came back, no one knew what had happened to him.

"I couldn't face you and Charlie. I couldn't save him…" Owen said to Jamie. Jamie hugged him.

"I'm glad to see you Owen. Charlie seems to have opened back up a bit. Ever since Casey died she's been a clam to anyone who she didn't know before. She's so young and it's really hard trying to get her to move on. It looks like you could help her learn how."

"Hmm. It's funny. I did the exact opposite. My mom didn't even know I was back until months later." Jamie gave him a sad smile.

Jamie and Charlie returned to their hotel, even though Arizona had tried to get them to stay at her place. Owen returned to work without another word for his fellow surgeons. Mark had left long before Arizona had returned and Arizona and Callie finished up their shifts and headed back to Callie's apartment.

"Calliope there's more to this you know," Neither had said a word about it, but both knew what she was referring to.

"I know honey" Callie responded trying to be understanding.

"No, I'm trying to tell you that Jamie and Charlie aren't just here to visit."

"Are they planning on moving or…" The look on Arizona's face cut her off.

"Callie, Charlie's sick."

"She seemed fine, what is it?"

"She has a tumor, in her brain. It's inoperable. But Jamie had read about Shepard's clinical trial from a few years ago, but Charlie's too young. She was hoping that we could convince him to do it. I'm confident that he'll be able to adjust the virus for a smaller body, we just have to convince him." Arizona had hope. She had to have hope. Arizona was not the type to give up. If there was a chance she would take it and she could feel in her heart that it would work.

"Arizona, I'm so sorry. I know how much that little girl means to you and how hard it is to have a sick child be your family. Sheppard will end up doing the surgery, though. Between you, me, and Owen, he can't say no"

-------------------------------------------------The Next Day-----------------------------------------------

"No"

"But Derek, you're the best brain surgeon in the world! You've had several success stories with this treatment. Why can't you just try? She will die if you don't do the surgery. She can't die." Callie pleaded. She felt it best that she soften Sheppard up a bit before springing the sob story on him.

"Callie, she has 6 months. I can't take 6 months away from her."

"Instead you're taking away her right to fight, Derek."

"Why are you so invested in this Callie? She's not even one of your patients."

"She's Arizona's niece."

"You want me to perform an experimental surgery on my colleague and friend's niece?!"

"Do you want to tell Arizona that you're not even willing to try? Isaac's tumor was much more experimental. We know you can do this. Everyone believes in you. You can save her. She's all that's left of Arizona's brother, one of the men from Owen's unit. Owen will shut down if Charlie dies. Christina will be sleeping with your wife again and you'll never have sex. Come on Derek, I'm begging here." Callie knew that she was playing dirty, but she couldn't allow Derek to take away Arizona's hope. That hope lit up Callie's day.

"Fine, I'll do it. But if it doesn't work no one gets to yell at me. I will fight to save her, but sometimes patients die. Do not give Arizona or Charlie's mother any false hope, Callie. I mean it." But Callie was gone. She had already run off to tell Arizona the good news.

"He'll do the surgery. I've scheduled it for next week. We just have to monitor the tumor. Derek and Meredith have already begun to prepare the modified virus"

"Callie, next week?"

"Yea hun, why?"

"We're visiting your parents next week." Callie was shocked that Arizona had even remembered. It seemed so unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

"I'll just talk to the chief. We'll get time off later. But right now you should be here with your family. I'll take care of everything babe, I promise it'll all work out." Callie stood there holding her. Arizona looked so scared. She had only seen Arizona fall apart once before on her birthday, the day that Wallace didn't make it. It didn't look like she'd be falling apart today though. Arizona was a good man in a storm. She didn't start weeping until after she saw what devastation the storm had caused.

"Tonight we're going to take a hot bath and you can stop worrying about your patients and little Charlie, because this hospital will take damn good care of her. I love you."

"I love you too. See you tonight." Callie gave Arizona a kiss on the cheek goodbye.

Both Callie and Arizona had back to back surgeries all day and didn't see each other until nine, when they met in the lobby to head home.

"So, what about that bath now?" Arizona gave Callie a seductive smile.

"I think that'd be pretty awesome."

"You said awesome!'

"My overly peppy girlfriend must be rubbing off on me."

"Well I'm sure there is a lot this girlfriend of yours would like to rub on you." Callie stopped in her tracks. Arizona hardly ever talked like that, and certainly not in public.

"You coming or what?" Arizona asked her from a few yards ahead.

"You have no idea" Callie mumbled under her breath as she caught back up to Arizona.

The second they opened the door to Callie's apartment, her mouth was on Arizona's. Callie skillfully removed Arizona's jacket and stepped out of her shoes. She roughly began kissing down Arizona's jaw line and nipping at her collar bone.

"Hey, what about that bath you promised me?" Arizona asked her teasingly, which only served to turn her on more.

"Later" Callie gasped as she relieved Arizona of her shirt. The two stumbled into their bedroom fully prepared for the blissful night ahead, neither of them worrying about a thing.

A/N: I appreciate all the feedback from the last chapter! Tell me what you think!


	3. Sleepless in Seattle

"Charlie Robbins. Age 6. Suffers from an inoperable tumor in the left intracostial space. Dr. Sheppard is going to inject a virus into the tumor in hopes of shrinking the mass." Meredith presented at rounds.

"Hey Charlie, how are you feeling today?" Derek asked, trying to keep his voice light.

"I want Aunty Zona!" She replied boisterously.

"Did someone bellow for me?" Arizona asked as she rolls in to Charlie's room, lollipops in hand. "A lollipop for the lollipop." She said, handing Charlie a pop.

"Is uncle Oh-Oh here?" Arizona got a sad look on her face and looked to Jamie. Owen hadn't come to see Charlie and it didn't look like he was planning on it. No matter how healthy his shrink said he was, some scars just don't heal.

"No, I'm sorry sweetie, but I'll roll in all the time, and Callie will come to visit too, okay?"

"Okay, Aunty Zona…" Charlie began to drift off.

"Owen isn't going to even visit, is he?" Jamie said, with a sad look on her face.

"It doesn't look like it. It took him a long time to get past the war. He might turn around though."

(Derek looks over Charlie's scans with Meredith)

"Her tumor has grown"

"Does that mean we have to make the virus stronger?"

"No, it just means we have to move faster."

"Prep her for surgery."

"Meredith, what's going on?" Arizona asked.

"We're going to do surgery today, because the tumor has grown." She replied as she hands Jamie the consent forms.

"Which OR?"

"Dr. Robbins, you can't watch."

"Someone needs to update—"

"I'll do it, you need to stay with Jamie." Callie said as she walked in. She knew that Arizona was going to try to watch the surgery, but Callie was sure that no matter the outcome, it would be better if she did not see her little niece's brain exposed.

Callie had been sitting in the OR 3 gallery for two hours, when Owen walked in.

"How's she holding up?"

"She was asking for you earlier." Callie said, not answering his question. Normally she would not be so hard on him, but that little girl was Arizona's niece.

"I just… I didn't think I would still be Uncle Oh-Oh. I couldn't look back. Is she doing okay?"

"Derek is about to inject the virus. You should try to visit her. She would like it."

Owen is silent. The rest of the surgery went on without a hitch.

"Page me when she wakes up." Owen said as he left the gallery. Callie sighed as she got up to tell Arizona and Jamie the outcome.

"Hey guys. The surgery went well. She should be awake in a couple of hours."

"Thank God," was all Jamie could say. She couldn't handle losing her little girl. Arizona just let out a deep breathe.

"So, that's it? If it worked she'll be fine and if it didn't…" Arizona couldn't face the alternative.

"Uncle Oh-Oh?"

"Hey Lollipop, how ya feeling?"

"My head hurts…"

"I know sweetie, I know. But just think, when your head stops hurting, you'll be all better and you'll be able to play t-bal with me and your mom and your Aunty Zona. Hows that sound?"

"What about Daddy? Will Daddy play t-bal with us too?" Charlie was still a little groggy.

"Do you remember that day it rained, so your dad and I had you watch _Angels in the Outfield_ with us?"

"Yea"

"Well, now your Daddy will be your t-bal angel. Mkay?"

"I miss him Oh-Oh…"

"Me too sweetie. Me too…"

Jamie and Arizona were standing by Charlie's room watching them through the window.

"He came."

"I'm not that surprised."

"You're not?"

"Owen wouldn't want to miss this. I've been thinking, maybe Charlie and I should move up here. A fresh start with a bit of home too. What do you think?"

"I know an apartment you can rent."

"I'm so glad this is all over. I hate to see you so worried all the time"

"I think it's time to start planning that trip to your parents again. Especially since Jamie and Charlie are moving into my apartment in two days"

"Well, you're moving in one way or the other, so really we could probably…"

"Don't even think about it Calliope Iphigenia Torres. You agreed to let me meet your mother there is no way you are backing out now." Arizona responded in a matter of fact tone.

"But Ari, my parents can be…"

"You don't think I can handle your parents? It's my job to deal with over protective parents. You need to stop worrying baby. No matter what it'll all be fine."

"That's what the last one said…" Callie muttered under her breathe as Arizona walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"I heard that Calliope!" She yelled through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Fine, we'll go. I just don't want my parents to have that much of a say in our relationship. It was hard when they didn't except me before. I had to learn to live without their approval. I hate feeling like I need it."

"Baby, no matter what happens this weekend, we are rock solid. I will be moving in when we come back. The purpose of this is to do things in the right order."

"Why does that matter so much to you Arizona?"

"Do you remember the order of operations? From high school algebra?"

"Yea…ah…PEMDAS?"

"Exactly. I feel like meeting the parents stage is like exponents and you're trying to skip to multiplication. I don't want our math to come out wrong. I love our life. I love how well we fit and I don't want that to change. If we start skipping steps now, what else will end up in the wrong order? I don't want to move to fast or too slow. We've got a good steady speed. The turtle taught us that was the best one" Arizona finished with a cheeky dimple filled smile.

"Alright then, I'm booking the flight now." She announced as she made a very definitive click on her laptop.

"Good. Now, movie or sleep?"

"How about cuddle and sex?"

"Cute how you slipped that one in there."

"Well, what can I say your metaphors alluding to high school algebra get me all hot and romantic" Callie says with a smirk, getting up from the couch and approaching Arizona.

"Yes, because high school is full of such wonderful memories for my little band nerd"

"Band geek, thank you very much. I guess all of us can't be All-American volleyball players now can we?"

"Now what, my darling is the difference between a nerd and a geek?"

"Geeks have more fun with the hot volleyball players wearing tight spandex." Callie said in a husky voice transitioning the mood from playful to sexy. She pulls Arizona in for an intimate, sexy kiss.

"Maybe I should get those spandex out…" Arizona says breathlessly after removing herself slightly from Calliope's lips. Callie makes a more forceful move towards Arizona and crashes their lips together. They are in a flurry of limbs as Calliope moves them towards the bedroom, while effortlessly removing Arizona's shirt.

"I wouldn't bother" Are the last words Callie utters before she closes the bedroom door, pushing a dark eyed Arizona onto the bed.

"We're Awesome"

"By the way, if meeting the parents is exponents, Does that make sex the parenthesis?"

"Shut up, no metaphor's perfect."

A/N I'm sorry that this took so long to get out! I hope people are still interested!


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